If you feel like your life is getting too complex, follow the steps on how I was able to simplify my life.
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We have been doing a massive overhaul of the contents of our home over the last 2 months. The spark that ignited the fire was the need to get rid of our dedicated office to make room for the baby’s nursery. This meant that we had to get rid of a lot of stuff. I’m talking a closet full of collectibles, crafting supplies, business items, books, paperwork, formal gowns (my old cheerleading outfits); and that was just the closet. We had a huge desk full of paperwork, camera equipment on the floor and a bookcase overflowing with books. I think we put it off for so long because the hubs didn’t think we could do it. But we did!
I recently finished this book, and while it was somewhat life-changing, some of it was a little odd to me. So I took the ideas from the book that I liked (de-cluttering, only keeping things that bring you joy, how to best organize drawers), implemented them, and came up with my own life-changing recipe for keeping a clutter free home.
I call it the rule of one.
The rule of one has two parts to it. First, it’s about keeping one of what you have. Just one. Just one blue blanket, one copy of that photo, one basket of dolls. The power of one can be just that, powerful. You see, many of us feel good when we have a lot of possessions. We need 25 handbags, or 50 pairs of shoes, or our kids need 8 princess dolls (in my case). But all that is, is stuff. This stuff isn’t bringing me any lasting memories. Buying it makes me happy for like a month, but then it’s once again more stuff cluttering up my life.
How the rule of one works
With the rule of one I only need one curling iron, one bottle of lotion, one pair of brown boots. My daughter only needs one set of play kitchen dishes and food, one basket of stuffed animals, one pair of dress shoes. My hubby only needs one backpack, one set of avalanche gear for back country skiing, one pair of skis (he had 5…insane, I know). The rest of the stuff left the house.
We took our daughter’s toys from three rooms, down to one. All of her toys now reside in the bonus/playroom, except the few things she deems necessary to have in her bedroom. Even my mom commented that she doesn’t have many toys compared to some kids. But that’s because she doesn’t need all those toys! I want her to have experiences, not just a lot of My Little Ponies that she plays with maybe once every few weeks or months. That crap is just taking up space and cluttering up our lives and our minds. We now have empty spaces in our home and everything feels so much lighter.
I know this rule won’t work for everything, or everyone. A lot of people like to collect things, like shoes or handbags or makeup. I am a reformed collector. I no longer collect anything new, but I do have my Christmas Barbie’s from when I was a kid, still in their boxes. And yes, I hope to pass them down to my daughter when she gets older since they are actually worth some money. Also, I don’t abide by this rule for certain clothing items, like jeans, tank tops, cardigans, etc. We all need more than 1 pair of jeans. But for most things in our life I’ve found that the rule of one works just great. I don’t need five rolls of pink wrapping paper, or three different hair brushes. I just need one.
How I made it work for us
What I recommend is to start going through areas of your home that need thinning out. As suggested in the book, touch each object and ask “Does this item bring me joy?” If the answer is no, toss or donate it. If yes, keep it and find a place to store it. And if you find yourself saying yes to 5 of the same items, lay them all out and really look at them. Decide if you really do require multiple of the same item. In some cases the answer may be yes; but I guarantee that the majority of the time the answer will be no. You only need one.
The second part of the rule of one is one place for everything. I know people who keep notebooks in 15 different areas of their home in case they need to write something down. Well guess what? When it comes time for them to finally write whatever it is they want to remember, they can’t find a damn notebook to save their life! If you designate one place for everything in your home, you are more likely to remember exactly where that one place is for xyz item, and easily be able to get what you need.
For example, we now keep all of our books on one bookcase in my office nook. We used to have most books in the office, a few downstairs on our built-ins, and some in our bedroom. Housing the books in one location guarantees no losing of books, and the hubs wondering where his favorite Tim Ferriss book went.
Same goes for mail. We have one place for the mail to come in, get sorted and either recycled, shredded or filed away. We don’t have bills in 4 or 5 different areas, so they never get lost and we never forget to pay anything that isn’t set up on auto-pay. I recommend that once you go through the de-cluttering part of the rule of one, you designate one place for anything you have multiple of, like books or shoes or hair accessories. Whatever it may be, keeping everything in one place has helped keep me sane when we’re in a time crunch, so I’m not scrambling around wondering where a phone charger is. I know exactly where they all are.
For Fun: Make it look pretty
I don’t know about you, but I love when my spaces look pretty. I like walking into our playroom and seeing everything organized in pretty bins. Or into my closet and seeing all our clothes neatly hanging up, not a jumbled mess. So I’ve taken to getting things that not only help keep us organized, but make the spaces look pretty too. The first thing we did is upgrade all of our hangers in our closet to velvet hangers. It makes a world of difference in how organized our closet is, and how neatly or clothes hang. And nothing slips off, ever! I added velvet hangers to the kids’ rooms as well.
In our playroom, we have a Kallax shelf unit from IKEA, and have these bins (so inexpensive, look good and come in tons of colors and patterns) in each cube, which divide the toys into different categories. (These bins from Target are super cute as well.) Not only does it keep everything organized, but it looks pretty and the kids know exactly where to put their toys back when they are done playing.
And we have a basket (similar to this Target one) in each kids room for stuffed animals. It makes it easy for them to find their precious stuffies and also where to put them back.
Whatever it is you like, make it pretty. You’ll want to keep it more organized, I promise.
The 2 rules that will keep your home clutter free and organized. Click To TweetSo try it. I dare you to go through a room in your home and see if you can 1) touch each item and ask yourself if it brings you joy, 2) implement the rule of one by keeping just 1 of multiple items you may have, and 3) find one place to put everything in your home. Our house feels so much lighter and fresher since going through this process.
What are some of the rules you abide by when it comes to de-cluttering and keeping your home tidy?
Thank you for this!! i really want to clean house this week…just get rid of stuff!! xo, Biana –BlovedBoston
I think the rule of 1 could really benefit many areas of our household. But something just bring me too much joy to collect. I like that point, too – “does it bring you joy?” – that’s how I try to look at things physically and mentally when determining if I should keep them around/keep doing those things.
It’s amazing how touching an object and asking that question can really make you think. Otherwise, if we just look at the items we may not put the necessary thought into whether they actually do bring us joy or not.
Such great tips! We need to be better at the mail thing. We tend to leave some on the kitchen table and some on the office desk. It all needs to go in one place. I agree with you…we most likely need just one of everything. I think it’ll be tough but I’m going to look through my stuff and see if I have too many of anything.
I love these! Marie Kondo’s book is on my list of books to read (and sitting on my nightstand!) We use the One Place rule in our house too and it is so helpful! Limiting things to one for kids stuff is so hard; but, your point is spot on. More isn’t better and it just becomes clutter! Thanks for an awesome article!
Ok, this is SO good, Tiffany! I am loving that rule of one! I need that in my life like whoa. Except I won’t stop collecting makeup…. lol!
I’ve heard so much about the Kondo cleaning/organization method but I love these couple of things you highlighted here – although I don’t know if I can do the rule of one! I mean one pair of jeans? One purse? One pair of shoes? Nooooo!!!
Thanks for sharing – it sounds like you’ve been nesting – am I right?! lol
xoxo
we need to get rid of those things that “we may need one day.” If we haven’t needed it after ten years, chances are we aren’t going to
Rule of one? This is so great! I would benefit from going through my house and getting rid of duplicates! Now if I could find the motivation to do it…I simply and declutter in spurts, but can never find the time or energy to do a complete overhaul! But it’s needed.
So…did you get to keep one cheerleading outfits? I think I have an old track & field uniform somewhere. And maybe even a relay baton. 🙂
Sometimes it just takes a few items to get you going. My hubby didn’t want to start either. Now we can’t stop, haha!
I do still have a cheerleading outfit, haha! I’m hoping baby girl will want to play dress up some day. 🙂
LOVE having only one of everything and most importantly, one place to store it! That’s definitely how I like to live. Hubs? Not so much. He’s always losing things and has, no joke, 50+ plaid shirts. I have more than one of a few things, but over all I’m super simple and it’s so much easier to live that way! Great post 🙂
This is SO good. Definitely going to try this!
I love going through and getting rid of things. I need to do it more often, as it’s such a freeing feeling.
I agree with these rules! I also live a clutter free life, and love it! You know exactly where something is when you need it. It feels great to never have to wonder about the small things like this!
Erin | http://www.awelderswife.com
That’s a huge accomplishment to get all that cleaned out! You feel so much better to de-clutter and simplify things. We just went through that. It started with the garage and we went on a roll through the whole house. Two car loads to Goodwill and two recycling and garbage bins full! Feels so freeing to get that crap out of the house!
I love your rule of one. Simple but so effective. This post is right on time too, over the next few weeks I’m going to be doing some major cleaning, decluttering, & organizing in my home. Thanks for sharing! -Krista
Oh man, I loooove this! We are moving in May, and as we get ready to move, I want to go through our things and storage bins and just get rid of things! And this is super helpful! I’m definitely going to be using your tips!!
I have been wanting to simplify my home for months, and finally found childcare for three days so I won’t be distracted by my kiddos (2 and 4). I know I probably won’t get to everything in this time, but I do hope to make some good headway! My question for you is regarding kids toys and such. I am all for going through and sorting out what they don’t play with on my own (when they’re not around), but my husband thinks I should let them have a say in what we get rid of (he’s a bit of a softy). So, I’m wondering how you managed to sort through your toys. What process did you use and did you involve your daughter in making any of those decisions and how did it work for you?
Great question Rebecca! So the toys are something I tackle in a totally different way. Honestly, I go through her toys weekly and get rid of a lot of the little knick knack things she loves to collect, along with random papers she’s drawn on, which is usually like 10-15 pages, haha! For the larger toys, if it’s something she hasn’t played with in a sweet forever I’ll put it in a box in the garage and if she doesn’t ask about it for a week or two, I’ll get rid of it. There are times I will let her have a say because I want to teach her values about giving and helping others in need, but if your goal is to do an initial purge, I’d do the “put it in the garage for a week” trick. I hope that helps! Good luck!!
As a Time Management Consultant, this brings up the One Touch Rule. Never touch an item more than once – deal with it. When you open your mail, toss the trash and pay the bills (or at least keep them in one place to be paid at one time). When you brush your hair or teeth, immediately put away the brushes, don’t leave them on the counter where they will suddenly be clutter instead of being put away – and need a second touch.
I just wanted to say thank you so much for this post! I made and printed a little 4×6 sign that says “The Rule of One” to remind me to simplify my life. Thank you!
You had me up until one pair of brown boots. Lol.
Excellent, Tiffany! Then you have to *keep* stuff out. So when a friend called to say she is giving away a tea set she never uses anymore and ask if I wanted it, I thought, Do I say Yes and give away an equivalent to make room for it or do I say No? So I said Yes and put together a lovely donation box for the charity shop.
Thanks you so much for this post. I am sure that I have duplicates galore. Using your system makes it much easier to make decisions , which will make a huge difference in my life.